Are you a regular breakfast eater or do you ignore that meal and not worry?
The importance of breakfast is quite a controversial subject. For years it was considered the most important meal of the day. Get up, and after a night of sleep you “break fast” by giving your body the nutrition it needs for the day ahead.
More recent research suggests that may not be as important as we once thought, that if you do not eat it, you will have a bigger lunch possibly; but not suffer from lack of nutrition.
Breakfast does serve to refuel you before you begin your daily routine and trends show that breakfast eaters as a rule are healthier, not necessarily because of
the breakfast but due to more disciplined eating habits. So, if you’re a non breakfast eater, don’t feel guilty and if you are a breakfast eater, enjoy it.
For those who do eat breakfast next comes the controversy about toast. When to butter the toast and what to put on it? Whether the habit of the British to place toast in a toast rack, or the Canadian version, where buttering toast as soon as it’s done is the general choice and which toppings are the most preferable.
This varies as much as the breakfast eaters.
Recently, a radio program asked its audience about their preferences for toast toppings, which sparked hundreds of listeners to respond with a wide variety of answers.
Having spent the first 27 years of my life in Britain where at the time breakfast was considered the most important meal of the day, I still eat it every day. Our toast was placed in a rack and marmalade was the topping of choice, that to me was normal.
When I first arrived in Canada, 53 years ago, my first encounter with the toast buttered while hot and immediately served on a plate, was strange. To me it was soggy. Sure, it was hot and not cold, but it lost its crispiness. I quickly learned this was the normal practice in Canada.
At home most mornings in the summer we have cereal and fruit, in the winter oatmeal porridge.
But being an egg lover twice a week we have eggs, boiled mid week, and scrambled or poached on Sunday and on both those days, with toast. That is when a whole range of spreads come out.
My husband David prefers to butter the toast while its hot, I can now eat it either way and find both perfectly acceptable. David’s preference is for marmite or honey. My preference is thick cut or ginger marmalade, but each of us like the others choice too.
To me jam of any variety is not a breakfast item, but many love toast with jam. A recent radio show I asked listeners to call in with their preferred toast toppings which stimulated much discussion, the responses were interesting to me with far more options than I had ever considered.
I enjoy breakfast time, we no longer indulge in the traditional British breakfast with fried eggs, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms, fried potatoes, sausages, tomatoes, and more.
Many folks enjoy it as a treat at weekends. Lots of local restaurants serve a good breakfast.
I am happy with my “marmalade fix” once or twice a week but am extremely particular about my marmalade, almost to the point of obsession.
If it’s too sweet, as most Canadian marmalade is, to me it belongs in the jam or other preserve category. I love the contrast between the bitterness of the thick cut peel and the sweetness of the jelly. When we go to stay somewhere where I suspect there might not be any marmalade, I often sneak a pot into my luggage.
My father’s family were all marmalade addicts and there are many funny family stories about them and marmalade. For his eightieth birthday I gifted him 80 pots of his favourite brand, three years later when he died, I wondered if it were because the pots had all been consumed!
Maybe when my time comes someone will sneak a pot into my coffin, meanwhile I continue to enjoy my breakfasts and my marmalade.
